Intrigues

I didn't buy this one.  I just couldn't help reading it when it arrived as a freebie.  But at least I didn't spend any money on it.  That's a start, right?

Intrigues is the second book in the Collegium Chronicles, the nth trilogy in Mercedes Lackey's never-ending Valdemar series.  Like the first in the trilogy, Foundation, it's pretty much a phoned-in version of the usual plot: adolescent angst, problems of acceptance, magical horse-shaped Companion, and mysterious plotting by foreign infiltrators who are clearly not in favor of Valdemar's warm-hearted, egalitarian, religiously tolerant, magical monarchy.  Familiarity with the first book is assumed; I've read it, but since I blanked it out of my memory, I had trouble untangling the references to the kidnapping that was apparently its climax.  Or something. 

Along with the standard coming-of-age plot elements, Intrigues is enlivened by a ridiculous-in-series-context scare about the possibility of "Black Heralds" and "Black Companions" and the introduction of Quidditch Kirball (a cross between polo and capture the flag with a mixed team of foot soldiers and riders).  Let's hope fans don't try the latter at home.

I'd be more interested in this trilogy if it actually addressed the rocky transition in educational systems when the Heralds shifted from an apprenticeship model to a college model; the nitty gritty of that and the issues of professionalism, standardization, and individualism vs. collectivism it raises could have been kind of interesting.  But it doesn't and therefore isn't.  And did I mention that it was terrible?

So don't waste your money.  But if you must waste your money, I am mercenary enough that I have provided a shopping link (below left).  And since the first book's title invites the comparison with a certain other Foundation Trilogy and Lackey herself with a certain other very prolific author, I'm also including a link (below right) to something much better to read.

Comments

[Serge]

One of these days, I'll have my "Foundation" cover framed. And I do mean the one written by the Good Doctor.